Hazardous materials are prevalent all over the globe, and new techniques to effectively, efficiently, and relatively safely remediate or otherwise neutralize such materials are continually sought by environmental agencies, both governmental and private. Certain types of hazardous materials only respond to specific types of treatments, and it is rare to find a particular treatment regime capable of effectively and efficiently remediating an entire category of hazardous materials.
The category of nitroaromatic compounds is an example of hazardous substances that are prevalent in soil, water, and other media, and some of the members of this category are particularly recalcitrant to remediation efforts. There are many dangers associated with nitroaromatic compounds including their tendency to detonate and their classification as carcinogens. 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (“TNT”) is perhaps the most well-known nitroaromatic compound, and there is a significant amount of TNT and other related nitroaromatic munitions materials (e.g., DNT, RDX) contaminating soils all around the world. Many remediation technologies have been used or otherwise considered over the years to clean up TNT and other nitroaromatic compounds, but, as of yet, no treatment has demonstrated an effectiveness in practice for efficiently treating TNT, DNT, and other nitroaromatic compounds.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for effectively treating soil and other media contaminated with organic explosives and other recalcitrant compounds such as pesticides and chlorinated solvents wherein such treatment method is capable of altering concentrations of such compounds to acceptable target level concentrations.